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Presentation on theme: "Chapter 8 - Freedom of Information and other Open Government Laws."— Presentation transcript:

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Freedom of Information What is the policy behind FOIA? Why not just use discovery? What are the basic requirements to get discovery? – Usually only in litigation – Must lead to admissible evidence – Limited ability to get info from non- parties – Puts other side on notice of what you are looking – Constrained by limits in the rules of civil procedure and in local court rules

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How is FOIA different from discovery in litigation? Anyone for any reason Why would a need-to-know test pose constitutional problems? Limited only by the exceptions in 552 - much broader than discovery No notice to anyone outside the agency Must pay reasonable costs

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States States follow the federal rule, but generally have both more exceptions and a broader overall openness mandate.

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552(b) Exceptions (1) classified national defense and foreign relations information, (2) internal agency rules and practices, (3) information that is prohibited from disclosure by another law, (4) trade secrets and other confidential business information, (5) inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges, (6) information involving matters of personal privacy, (7) certain information compiled for law enforcement purposes, (8) information relating to the supervision of financial institutions, and (9) geological information on wells.

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Exemption 7 - National Security Exemption 7(F) permits the withholding of information necessary to protect the physical safety of a wide range of individuals. This exemption provides broad protection to "any individual" when disclosure of information about him "could reasonably be expected to endanger [his] life or physical safety." Prior to the 1986 FOIA amendments, Exemption 7(F) by its former terms protected records that "would... endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel," and it had been invoked to protect both federal and local law enforcement officers. Cases decided after the 1986 FOIA amendments continue this strong protection for law enforcement agents.

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How Broad is 7? Under the amended language of Exemption 7(F), courts have applied the broader coverage now offered by the exemption, holding that it can afford protection of the "names and identifying information of... federal employees, and third persons who may be unknown" to the requester in connection with particular law enforcement matters. Withholding such information can be necessary in order to protect such persons from possible harm by a requester who has threatened them in the past. Indeed, many courts have held that the very expansive language of "any individual" encompasses the protection of the identities of informants. This has even been applied to protect retired agents

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Agency Disclosure Even if information is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA, the agency still may disclose it as a matter of administrative discretion when that is not prohibited by any law and would not cause any foreseeable harm.

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Exclusions The FOIA does not apply to: – Congress – Courts – The immediate office of the White House – Records of state or local governments The Shelby Amendments apply FOIA to research data from federally funded research held by universities – Driven by opposition to environmental legislation

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Private Parties The FOIA does not require a private organization or business to release any information directly to the public, whether it has been submitted to the federal government or not. However, information submitted to the federal government by such organizations or companies can be available through a FOIA request if it is not protected by a FOIA exemption, such as the one covering trade secrets and confidential business information.

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Making a FOIA Request When you make a FOIA request, you must describe the records that you want as clearly and specifically as possible. Agency will tell you what you can get and what it will cost If the agency cannot identify and locate records that you have requested with a reasonable amount of effort, it does not have to fill the request FOIA does not require agencies to do research for you, to analyze data, to answer written questions, or in any other way to create records in order to respond to a request.

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Appealing a Denial of a FOIA Request § 552 a(4)(B) On complaint, the district court of the United States in the district in which the complainant resides, or has his principal place of business, or in which the agency records are situated, or in the District of Columbia, has jurisdiction to enjoin the agency from withholding agency records and to order the production of any agency records improperly withheld from the complainant.

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What is the Standard for Review? In such a case the court shall determine the matter de novo, and may examine the contents of such agency records in camera to determine whether such records or any part thereof shall be withheld under any of the exemptions set forth in subsection (b) of this section, and the burden is on the agency to sustain its action.

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When does the Court Defer to the Agency? In addition to any other matters to which a court accords substantial weight, a court shall accord substantial weight to an affidavit of an agency concerning the agency's determination as to technical feasibility under paragraph (2)(C) and subsection (b) and reproducibility under paragraph (3)(B).

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Protecting Deliberation- NLRB v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. - 510 What does the regional office do when there is an unfair labor practices complaint it does not want to adjudicate? – The office of counsel makes the final decision in an appeal memorandum Who does it ask for advice and what does it get? – When the regional office is considering such a request it gets an advice memorandum from counsel

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What did Sears want? Sears wanted documents exchanged between the NLRB counsel and the regional offices What privilege did the NLRB claim? – Agency claimed (b)(5) agency memorandum privilege Why did Sears say it did not apply? – Sears says these reflect policies already adopted by the agency and thus are not subject to this exception because they do not further agency consultation. What presidential privilege does this resemble? – Exemption 5 mirrors the executive privilege to not disclose certain documents in litigation

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When does this Exemption Apply? To fall into the exemption, the documents must be part of the agency decisionmaking process What does the court want to protect? – The courts want to protect the "frank discussion of legal and policy matters" so that agencies will not be completely swayed by public opinion Where was this originally litigated? – US v. Nixon Now we have some new cases with Clinton – Bad cases make bad law - he should not have fought these

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What is the key test? Are the they pre-decisional documents or documents that implement or explain the decision? – Remember the early case about finding out what is in the secretary's head and how this was discouraged in discovery? What else does Exemption 5 cover? – Exemption 5 also covers attorney work product Why do advice and appeals memos not fall under 5? – They are not sent until Counsel makes its decision on not filing a complaint, and thus do not fall under 5 What about memos which direct the filing of a claim? – They just initiate the process and are clearly part of an ongoing transaction which includes further decisionmaking and legal advice, thus they are subject to 5

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What if exempt materials are used as part of a record for a ruling? Materials that might be sec 5 exempt lose their exemption if the agency incorporates them as part of the record for a ruling

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Confidential Private Information - Chrysler Corp. v. Brown - 519 What did Chrysler try to enjoin? – Chrysler tried to enjoin the defense department from releasing info that was protected by the federal trade secrets act Does the APA create a direct right to enjoin such disclosures? – SC said that there was no direct right to enjoin the release because the trade secrets did not create a private cause of action How could the APA be used to support the injunction? – Sec 10 of the APA which prohibits agency actions contrary to law

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Are trade secret protections absolute? Court also said that the protection of the trade secret act is not absolute, but the agency must show some legal basis for releasing otherwise protected info When might the agency release trade secret information? – Congress does this for toxics in some cases

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Releasing Proprietary Corporate Data What is the key to deciding whether the date will be released? – Was the data is provided voluntarily or under compulsion? When is voluntary info covered? – If it would not ordinarily be available to the public When is compelled info covered? – If it would cause significant harm What are examples where Congress has compelled disclosure? – MSD and community notification act under EPA Do the companies have to be notified first? – By executive order, companies must be notified when the agency wants to divulge their info.

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Problem Scientist submits grant proposal to the NIH NIH sends it out to a peer review committee The peer review committee evaluates and scores it NIH makes the final determination on approval Can rival scientists get the info in the hands of the NIH? Key - is the grant a trade secret? (no) Key - are their recommendations intra-agency memos?

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Sunshine/Open Meeting Acts Why have these laws? What are the benefits? What are the costs? What does a Baton Rouge School Board meeting look like?

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State vs. Federal Law How broad are the state laws as compared to the federal law? – Federal law has 10 exemptions, most of the states are broader How do agencies try to get around Sunshine acts? – Work off written documents - remember the exemption for intra-agency memos? – Meet in groups of two – Have staff do the meetings and then rubber stamp the results

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What is a meeting? Why is this a critical definition? What did the Moberg case find? – The Moberg case found that the critical definition was whether there was a quorum present of either the governing body or its committees, unless it was a social or chance gathering – Could you set the quorum very high, assuming you could ever get them together when you needed to act?

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FCC v. ITT? The United States Supreme Court used a narrower definition under the federal law in FCC v. ITT – They are only meeting when they are deciding. – They can get together privately when they are receiving information and having informal background discussions

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What do you tell your clients? Comply with notice Do not make the decisions at the background sessions Clearly separate them, at least in time.

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Sanctions What sanctions can you get if prevail on a claim that a meeting should have been open? – You can get attorney's fees if you prevail on a claim that a meeting should have been open Can the federal court overturn actions because of improperly closed meetings? – Federal law does not allow the court to overturn an agency action because a meeting was improperly closed – Some states do allow this, plus providing other penalties

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Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) - 529 Why did congress pass this act? – The feds increasingly rely on private advisors and contractors – FDA as an example Who does it cover? – Covers every group used by the president or an agency to get advice What does it require? – Should be balanced membership and not biased – Sure

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Separation of Powers Does it violate separation of powers by limiting the president's right to get advice? What if they are all federal employees? – Does not cover groups of only federal employees Hillery Health posed an interesting problem – Was she a government employee? – Even if she claimed she was not for disclosure purposes? – Bye Vince – What about the 800 folks who did the work as "advisors" to the committee?